Cal

What Cal means

Meaning not yet sourced. Wiktionary has no word-by-word meaning for Cal yet, and we don’t write our own.

Editor’s note More popular in the US than England & Wales: #542 vs #4,275 in 2025 Worked out from the official US and England & Wales counts, not a meaning.

How popular is Cal?

US: Rising: up from #1252 in 2015. England & Wales: Falling: down from #1673 in 2015.

Biggest US share so far: 2025, when 554 boys got the name (#542 that year). First in the US records in 1880.

How common

• About 1 in 3,083 baby boys in the US in 2025
• About 1 in 67,984 baby boys in England and Wales in 2025
• About 1 in 6,547 baby boys in Scotland in 2025

“1 in N” divides by all listed births for that sex. The US list leaves out names given to fewer than 5 babies, and the UK lists leave out names given to 2 or fewer, so the real figure is a little rarer than shown.

Where in the US

Most popular in WY (4.59 per 1,000 boys), ND (1.79 per 1,000 boys), UT (1.73 per 1,000 boys) in 2025.

SSA state data, 2025. Share of all listed boys born in each state.

US vs UK

Cal is #542 in the US and #4275 in England & Wales (2025).

Same sex as this page (boys). SSA (US), ONS (England and Wales), NRS (Scotland).

Boy or girl?

In 2025, 99.9+% of US babies named Cal were boys.

Counts below the publishing threshold (US 5, UK 3) are not included.

How to say it

IPA from Wiktionary.

Other spellings parents chose in 2025

• Gael3,860 US · 18 E&W
• Cole2,003 US · 289 E&W
• Clay515 US · 38 E&W
• Kael263 US · 12 E&W
• Cael79 US · 4 E&W
• Kal60 US · 6 E&W
• Cale47 US
• Kol24 US

Names that sound the same and differ by a letter or two, with baby counts for the same sex. US and E&W counts.

If you like Cal

Boys

• Walker#78Editor’s note Climbing fast in the US: #340 in 2015, #78 in 2025
• Baker#217From a surname for “a baker, or owner of a communal oven”^*
• Shiloh#278Editor’s note Used for both: 53% of US babies named Shiloh in 2025 were boys
• Callum#118Variant of Calum, meaning “dove”^*
• Lorenzo#117Editor’s note Up from #216 in 2015 to #117 in 2025 in the US. About 1 in 560 US boys in the 2025 records
• Emilio#154Spanish and Italian, meaning “rival”^*

For a sister

• Cecilia#108possibly “blind”^*
• Alora#195“my dream”^*
• Annie#182Editor’s note Peaked in the US in 1922, with 7,476 babies; 1,690 in 2025
• Ruth#173Editor’s note Peaked in the US in 1920, with 26,102 babies; 1,781 in 2025
• Margot#102Editor’s note Climbing fast in the US: #592 in 2015, #102 in 2025
• Maisie#233Diminutive of Margaret, meaning “pearl”^*

Picked from the US top 1,000 in 2025: names Wiktionary also files under where there are enough, topped up with common names whose US popularity since 1990 rose and fell most like Cal’s. Place names are only included if they are in the top 300. Rank is US 2025.